Acura RSX Type S Show Car Build is Truly JDM AF
Volk, Voltex and FEEL’S are just some of the JDM brand names you will find on this ultra-clean DC5 RSX Type S.
Normally, show cars aren’t our thing. Sure, we feature the shiny stuff on here a bit (readers like to click on the shiny car pictures the most), but, for us, we are all about function. If we can’t get in a car and rip at the local track day, or thrash a canyon road, or go drifting, it’s just not our bag.
However, some people like to have their cake, and eat it, too. One of those people is Joe LaFlare, whose 2006 Acura RSX Type S was recently featured on the Yvette Moreno Automotive Anatomy YouTube channel.
LaFlare tells the story of his RSX, which, incidentally, began with another RSX, which he totaled. He subsequently pulled all the go-fast parts off that first car, managed to find a clean 2006 shell, and here we are, looking at his final product.
This show car build ended up taking a lot longer than anticipated to get to this point, almost a decade, in fact. But the final product is a magazine-ready show car that makes us pine for the good old days when the DC5 was the hottest Honda around.
Under the hood is an all-motor K20 setup. An ARC intake has been custom fabricated to fit the All-In Motorsport intake manifold. Interestingly, most every line in the engine bay has been converted to AN line, and don’t forget the obligatory wire tuck. A FEEL’s radiator adds some additional JDM cred, as does the Ganador titanium strut tower brace.
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The interior is no less comprehensive in it’s overhaul, with Mugen seats, a Miracle cross brace, aftermarket steering wheel and a semi-gutted interior. It actually looks more like a track day toy than a show car in there.
The hellafunctional theme obviously continues on the exterior. The FEEL’S front end treatment is accentuated with the vented carbon fiber hood. A carbon fiber Voltex rear wing keeps the theme going, as does that sweet rear diffuser. Wonder where he got it? Wonder no more, because LaFlare adapted that genuine Spoon diffuser from an S2000.
Those Alcon brakes are also an S2000 kit, which, LaFlare says, had him pleasantly surprised by how well they were able to be adapted to the DC5. Of course, housing those big brakes are a set of big wheels. Those are Volk CE28SL, which measure 18×9.5 with a +21 offset in front, to clear the brakes and +35 offset out back, to clear the fender.
The ride height, too, which is controlled by adjustable coil-over suspension, is also rather purposeful. Hardcore Honda heads know that lowering an RSX too much ruins the suspension geometry, and generally makes the car ride like a bucking bronco, so LaFlare seems to have found the sweet spot here. That ride height also helps clear those tires. That’s a set of Bridgestone RE71R track day rubber, sized 265/35 up front and 245/40 out back. Hellafunctional, indeed.